“I will get more polished,” says Smith in a brief clip, followed by a caption saying: “We can’t wait for Tom to get better.”

It goes on to spotlight various Smith verbal foibles, along with Welch’s jabs at the former coal company owner for raising taxes as a local official and voting in the 2010 Democratic primary.

Welch’s strength – and a big part of the reason he won the endorsement of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – is his ability to articulate complex concepts and explain them in an accessible way. Welch an entrepreneur from Chester County.

His campaign and Smith’s have exchanged shots and negative TV ads for several weeks.

Smith, on the other hand, is a former coal company owner and farmer. Though strong in small, personal appearances, his performance in debates has been hit or miss so far in this race.

Welch argues that the GOP needs to nominate a candidate who can stand toe-to-toe with Casey on a debate stage.

Smith’s campaign called the video out of line and several of the clips out of context.

“That Steve Welch would selectively and dishonestly edit hundreds of hours of video from countless debates and public meetings into mere seconds of out of context footage, is a further testament to his desperation,” said campaign manager Jim Conroy. “But even his misleading attacks and personal slanders will not allow voters to forget his strong support for liberal candidates like Barack Obama and Joe Sestak.”

In one case, the video features Smith saying, “And we will hang him,” about Casey. The quote comes from a forum where Smith was asked about how to defeat the freshman Senator.

“And we will hang him, by his record,” is Smith’s full quote is likely what he meant – not quite as scandalous.

Here’s his full quote, speaking about Casey’s record.

“And we will hang him… I shouldn’t say that. We will put forth that very forcefully and aggressively.”

The highlight of the video, appearing after a number of Smith clips, is its inclusion of the second-best scene in modern film: the principal’s speech during the academic decathlon in the film ‘Billy Madison’:

“What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

39 thoughts on “Welch Video: Smith Not Articulate Enough to Take on Casey”

I agree that this is a desperate low class attempt by Welch and is uncalled for. I too have gone to several Forums and talked to the candidates. I was most impressed with Tom Smith. I don’t want a career politician to represent me in the Senate. The career politicians need to be voted out of office. Sam Rohrer is a career politician who, at the Forums, voted NO for term limits. He regrets voting for the pay raise because he got caught by the public voting yes to the raise and for increasing a pension. If Sam wants to be a part of a campaign, if he loses, maybe he should actually help the chosen candidate with his experience. Just saying……

Running a US Senate campaign requires more than the ability to do the job. It requires being able to build a organization. It requires the ability to raise funds. It requires the ability to control that organization.

If you can’t manage and run a website or have the ability to return emails (and don’t list your phone number or address on the website ), how the heck can run say you are ready for the US Senate?

Dr. Sklaroff, and others, eliminate Christian [whom I like] due to certain practicalities regarding $-related issues . What is that supposed to mean? If Gov Corbett and his gang had not threatened him to drop out of the race, which ended up with a courtroom challenge for Christian to be on the ballot, then Christian could have been further ahead. But what candidate can spend a month off the campaign trail and drain his funds for legal fees and not have catch up to do in the campaign. His spirit shows that he will stand up for what is right regardless of the obstacles.

This video is an example of desparation, to stoop so low. Tom Smith is not a politician – definitely a plus! He is a God-fearing, family man and greatly concerned about the direction our country is headed. A self-made business man who understands business and energy. I want my senator to be someone that understands and relates to me – someone who carries the concerns and needs of the people of Pennsylvvania TO Washington – not what Washington thinks we need. My vote is for Tom Smith.

This is the most dishonorable, disgusting, dirty, immature piece of gutter politics I have seen in PA. Braebender has come close in previous local elections but this is over the top.

Bottom line, Steve Welch is a behaving like an injured, cornered creature and is stiking out in a very immature, inexperienced boy far beyond his political ability. He is desperate. He is losing big time. He lost this race in 2006 – 2008. HE VOTED for OBAMA. He supported JOE SESTAK. Welch is a LIBERAL.

He should at least be respectful of the 49% PAGOP committee members who supported him and pull this nonsense out of the media.

I have spoken to all the candidate, also. Sam Rohrer, Tom Smith, Dave Christian and Marc Scaringi have all been on my radio show and we have distributed YouTube links to the interviews.

Tom Smith has the advantage of having been, and continuing to be, a job creator who met a payroll and continues to meet a payroll AND has contributed half million dollars to free market and conservative candidates including Pat Toomey in 2004 AND is a blue star dad AND, is willing to put up $5,000,000 of his own money because the conservatives won’t.

Sam Rohrer has legislative experience and understands the mechanisms of government and is truly decent, honest man who can make the case better than any other candidate. Sam Rohrer has a large and hard working principled grassroots network which is impressive.

Steve Welch is, in my opinion, solid but a bit too opportunistic and far too close to the Establishment which got us into the trouble we are in.

Marc Scaringi is, likewise, articulate and Dave Christian is charsmatic but neither has the money or the organization that Tom Smith and Sam Rohrer have.

It should be recalled that he resigned from a “safe” advocacy-job to compete in this Primary, undoubtedly due to his view that a positive “residue” existed state-wide after his gubernatorial bid; certainly his sincerity was memorable whenever he spoke [then] and it rings-through publicly [@ debates].

He and Smith reflect the true-Conservative vote [along with Christian], and it’s reassuring to note that their combined %-ages dwarf Welch’s.

I’d like to weigh-in briefly, basically to suggest that the anti-Welch sentiments recorded on this page are reflective of comments I have heard from GOP-insiders, including those [plural-form] who attended the endorsement convention in January.

They are also c/w my personal perceptions as were noted here contemporaneously, drawn from [painfully] direct conversations with him that transpired on too many occasions.

I eliminate Scarinigi due to his support of Paul, and I eliminate Christian [whom I like] due to certain practicalities regarding $-related issues [although people I like, like him a lot]; the latter candidate will draw from SE-PA and hurt Welch, surely desirable, but his statewide impact has not been detectable.

I like Rohrer, for his honesty and for his ability to be articulate; either he or Smith could defeat BHO’s voting-clone Casey for the same reasons Toomey emerged victorious. To a lesser degree than with Christian, he has yet to show $-generating capacity of the magnitude Smith has demonstrated [and not just with personal-$, as per a luncheon-meeting held in Lower Merion 11 days ago].

The harbinger regarding Corbett’s re-election chances is whether his having commandeered the PA-GOP will be rebuffed by the party-electorate, inasmuch as his Sandusky/Paterno-related vulnerabilities have yet to have been fully explored.

Yes, Welch was probably promised something substantive two years ago, prior to his having suddenly withdrawn from the 8th-endorsement @ the Saturday committee-person convention. Is it not somewhat sad that he didn’t–during all this time–grow into a “statesman”-like role/mien?

By all measures, this negative-ad should best be relegated into the gutter, indeed, into the sewage system; Smith may not be slick but, as noted supra, he’s not going to debate a BHO/Gingrich, either with regard to knowledge-base or delivery-style…so his nomination would send numerous [threatening] messages to both D’s and the RINO-community that TEA-Party sentiments have indeed been quickly integrated into the GOP Body-Politic.

many of these comments are insightful or interesting, but i beg to differ with those of you who think none of the candidates are worth voting for. I wonder how many of you “post-ers” have talked in detail, one-on-one, face-to-face, multiple times EACH with Smith, Rohrer, Welch & Scaringi?? **I HAVE** – 3x with all of them except with Welch, with whom I’ve spoken twice. I’ve attended 3 debates as well. I’ve grilled them on the issues and have looked each one in the eyes while having detailed discussions about the issues. Yes, all of them would be better than Casey, but Rohrer is hands-down the best candidate. He’s also the only one with any kind of track record. Knowledgeable posts here give the truth about his pension vote, which has been exaggerated and blown out of proportion. He is well-balanced, he has integrity, and for those of you who say he can’t beat Casey, that’s a bunch of baloney and you’re in major presumption. When the people hear about Casey’s voting record after 1 term, not to mention all the reasons NOT to vote Democrat, we will have a genuine RACE on our hands. Rohrer is the best candidate and he CAN win – on the 24th and in November.

This video shows the true desperation of a man trying to win. Any one can take a couple of words from anyone or anything and make something out of it. But no one can change the fact that Tom Smith is a honest, God Fearing, qualified man, who is afraid for the direction that our country is headed. We will send Mr. Smith to Washington

You can always tell when the “SNAKES” are fearful of losing!!! Frankly, this level of negative campaigning should make all Republicans VOMIT!

Tom Smith may not be the slick politician that the PA GOP thinks they want; but they have not seen Tom when he is fired up on the issues of the Constitution, the loss of our freedoms, the excessive spending in Washington, the incredible abuse of power by our president and other issues. I have!!!

I believe that Tom Smith was truly made in the image of Jimmy Stewart in the movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” He is a God-fearing, hard working, promoter of family and family values and will not stand for the continued lies that we are being fed from both the state and federal levels.

A vote for Welch is a vote for a true RINO and eventually a vote for Obama. A vote for Tom Smith is a vote for a REAL man who cares about you and your family and the USA!

Frankly, this whole ad campaign smells of the tactics of the PA GOP chairperson, who with his liberal cronies, insist they have an anointed candidate that can beat Casey. Really? How stupid do you think we are, mr. chairman? We have warned you about pre-endorsing before the primaries; but you don’t seem to hear us.

And, for those thinking about voting for Sam Rohrer, perhaps you should ask him about just who supported him financially (big time) in his run for governor. Guess his memory is short on this matter. He, too, needs to play fairly. How hard did he really fight against the midnight pay raise and the increase in his pension?

Smith is a very nice guy. However he has no credentials, no experiince other than business. He was Democrat until August 2011. Welch too was a Democrat and he had a questionable governemnt loan application with te Rendell admin. Rorher spent 18 years in the legislature with not one bill passed , and voted for his own pay raise and pension incease. He had $14,000 in per dieums in one year. Scarinigi is, well, not exactly ready for office either.

DAVID CHRISTIAN He has business, government service, foreign relations service, military (Decorated) service,an impressive academic record and is a fiscal and social conservative, He is the ONE who can serve in the Senate from day one and can beat Casey. Go to http://www.davechristian.com You will be a supporter too.

Obviously Welch is getting desperate. He is down in the polls and he doesn’t want to let Corbett down after all that arm twisting that Corbett did to get Steve the endorsement. Shame on you Mr. Welch! I want a man representing me that has gotten his hands dirty, worked the land and is God fearing. Tom Smith is my ideal candidate!

The Welch campaign should be ashamed of their pathetic campaigning. Whether they have a point or not, this is tasteless politics. Come on Welch, what you worried about? You got the state party cronies working for you round the clock…

It’s sad to see any candidate stoop so low. I appreciate greatly the fact that as Welch and Smith have exchanged barbs the other three candidates have behaved like adults and remained above the fray. Thanks to the Christian, Scaringi and Rohrer campaigns. You all have my respect. Sam Rohrer, you have my vote.

By the way, not the same Steve as above but that Steve is on target, as are most of the others.

What a despicable ad by Stevie Welch. Classless, used above, is a good starting point. A bunch of two-second, out-of-context clips. This from Stevie Welch, the confused, insipid establishment suck up with his own self-published vanity book. From someone who has run for three different federal offlices in less than two years.

This is the best we get from someone that Governor Corbutt personally forced down the throat of state committee. He has no record, he has no charisma, he has no principled stands so he resorts to this type of commercial.

Whether you like Smith or not, at least he is genuine and has put his money where his mouth is. Stevie Welch pretends to self fund but has really not commited.

On top of the fact that it is important to defeat Stevie Welch because at best he would be a young Arlen Specter, he needs to go to send a message to the RINO establishment in PA that their candidates will not be forced on the Republican voters of PA.

Split second clips, out of context, and presented in good old liberal Saul Alinski methodology. What is this, a circus side show? Is it situational ethics? Where is the meat? Anyone who hangs around Tom Smith for a while knows that he is consistent, methodical, and clearly conservative to the core. If Steve acts out like this in a primary, will he try to be a master of deceit while in office?

Maybe Tom isn’t a polished politician,that is why I am voting for him. I am tired of the so called polished politician telling us what is good for us and wanting us to blindly follow them. Tom has built a business from nothing. He knows how to work with people one on one and will work hard to bring the country back to it’s basic principles that most of us grew up with. Our country is falling apart. We need commonsense hard working people to turn us around. Tom Smith is one of them and he has my vote.

Wow! A very desperate commercial by a very desperarte RINO. I can’t believe the Welch campaign went back 30 years when Tom was a township supervisor, forced to vote raise taxes and had to due to state mandates. My understanding is this information was given to the Welch by Democrats who dug out this information. The only reason Welch is a candidate is because the state party owed him big time for backing down from a race for congress. Plus he was from the East and the state party wanted to balance the ticket. As far as debating casey, it would involve talking to a person who’s only qualification is his father’s name. He won due to Santorum endorsing Specter. Who by the way, has a clone by the name of Welch.

So, another words we need professional politicians like Welch that supported Obama and and will continue to run the country into the ground. Thank you for making me realize Tom Smith is exactly what we need in Washington. Get rid of the professional politicans and lawers.

How can we trust Tom Smith to vote on behalf of Pennsylvanians when he can’t remember who he voted for in 19 Democratic primaries (including 2006 and 2010)? This shows him to be either incompetent or dishonest.

Steve Welch is a jerk! Tom Smith is a good, honest and upstanding man. How dare Welch use snippets of video to make Tom look bad. Steve is lagging in the polls. Welch is desperate! So desperate that he is willing to make himself look like a jerk to try to drag a good man down. Tom owned and operated his own coal company for 25 years. No he is not a polished politician and that is one of the reasons that I am voting for Tom Smith for Senate!

I am undecided, but attended the debate in which Smith didn’t remember that the Specter/Sestak primary was in 2010. Smith also didn’t admit to raising taxes when pushed by Welch, ad nauseum, to acknowledge it. This Welch attack video is honest and accurate and makes me wonder whether Smith is competent.

The video does not get Welch off the hook for producing a video which strongly implied that Rick Santorum and Pat Toomey endorsed Welch, when they did not.

Welch and Smith all strongly self-funded candidates. That’s why they are going after each other.

However, both have been Democrats, and while I welcome Democrats to join the Republican Party, it may be a little too soon to trust that they should be the standard bearer running against Casey.

If either wins, I will support them in the general, as I believe all 5 GOP candidates would be more visible and more enthusiastic than Casey, who is one of the most obscure, rarely-seen Senators that Pennsylvania has ever had.

I have been watching this primary race from afar, as I usually do not vote in the primaries. I’m not a great voter, but I do try to make it to the bigger elections. I had no intention of voting in this election, but a friend directed me to this website and I am appalled.

Steve Welch has clearly shown his spots, and boy are they UGLY. What a classless jerk.

Rather than talk about policy differences or why he should be elected he attacked his fellow republican because at times he hasn’t been the best public speaker. Well having done a little research I’ve found that Tom Smith was a farmer, is still married to his wife, has raised seven children, built a successful business, and now has decided to run for senate because he doesn’t like the direction our country is headed in.

I say in Pennsylvania the slickest speaker doesn’t always win. We are hard working people who respect other hard working people.

I can tell you I won’t be voting for Steve Classless Welch. What a jerk!

Smith won’t get my vote. I’m tired of deception. For me 2012 is all about getting rid of liars–not electing more of them. Smith claims to be an honest, good old farm boy. But I have several problems with his integrity. First, he has spent millions in an attempt to circulate HALF TRUTHS about Sam Rohrer. Surely Tom knows the Pay Raise vote was standard, constitutional procedure right? Surely Smith wouldn’t distort the truth for political gain when he’s trying to sell the public on his honesty. Or should we believe a man who is running for U.S. Senate doesn’t know the constitution? Would think Tom would firm up on the constitution BEFORE running for senate and certainly before launching an attack ad that makes him look like he’s either ignorant or exploiting the ignorant. What a massive integrity shortfall.

But what bothers me even more, is that here is a man who has a massive platform, and rather than use it to be humble, and up front with the voters about who he is, he cleverly disguises himself, camouflaging a past he knows will matter to Republican voters. A majority have no idea Smith was a lifelong Democrat who only became Republican 7 months ago. A man with integrity would be upfront with voters and allow them to make an informed decision. In fact, it might have been endearing. Instead, he is duping the public. We expect this from the “career politicians” he claims he’s running against–although Sam Rohrer doesn’t deny his past. He owns it.

Career politician has gotten a bad name because most of them are dirty and self serving. I’m having trouble with Smith acting like the career politician, and pinning the title on Sam, who has campaigned, as usual, like a gentleman.

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